celebrate the Sabbath...with living water!

Whoever believes in me,

as the Scripture has said,

streams of living water

will flow from within him.

~John 7:38

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. ~Revelations 7:17

...but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. ~John 4:14

God's coloring book

I happened upon this song recently, and I loved the imagery it created in my mind. I was going to add photos but I thought, instead, I would let the words stand on their own. That way each person can see in their own mind's eye the beauty and color with which God has blessed their own lives...

God's Coloring Book

by Dolly Parton

Today as I was walking

In the fields just down the way

I sat down on a fallen log

To pass the time away

And as I looked around me

The more that I did look

the more I realize that I am viewing God's coloring book

I saw a golden ray of sunlight

A silver drop of dew

A soft, white floating cloud

Sailing cross the sky 'a blue

A yellow dandelion, Pretty evergreen

And some red and orange flowers

Growing wild along the stream

And the more I look around me

And the more that I do look

The more I realize that I am viewing God's coloring book

The greyness in an old man's hair

The pink in baby's cheeks

The blackness in a stormy sky

The brown in fallen leaves

And the multicolored rainbow

Stretched out across the sky

And the purple haze at sunset

Just before the night

And the more I look around me

And the more that I do look

The more I realize that I am viewing God's coloring book

Then I turn my face toward the sky

And say a silent prayer

Though God doesn't speak to me

I see him everywhere

He is all around me

He's everywhere I look

And each new day is but a new page

In God's coloring book

...I believe God DOES speak to each of us--through His Word, through the Holy Spirit, through those around us, and through His creation! Thank You, Father, for your beautiful words!!

witnessing a miracle...

A couple of days ago, I witnessed a miracle. No, really. I did. It was a modern-day miracle.

Miracles, you know, come in all sizes and shapes. Some are big, some are small. Some even seem like "chance happenings." But, we who believe KNOW that God does miracles in our daily lives if we will open our eyes to see them.

My friend, who is a very organized person, could not find a file containing several very important documents. It was not just your run-of-the-mill ordinary important file but one she needed for legal purposes, and there was a very tight timeframe in which to produce it. She had looked in the place where it was supposed to be, and it was nowhere to be found. She looked in any other places where it might be, and it was still nowhere to be found. She spent several days looking for the file, but it was just missing. We kept praying that she'd find it.

With the deadline looming ever nearer, my friend woke up exceptionally early Friday morning with the missing file on her mind. She was very tempted to go the very human reactions of exasperation and frustration and anger... but she refused to let the enemy have any ground in this battle. She refused to go to those "old places" of the flesh and determined she would instead, stand firm against the enemy and find a place of peace...trusting in God no matter the outcome of the search.

She put on her armor, prayed for peace, and went back into the garage to search for the file. She bravely faced the file cabinet, prepared to search through every file in every drawer until she found the one she needed. She opened a drawer, and there-- in the first drawer, in the very front WAS THE MISSING FILE!!!

Seriously! It was a miracle!! And, to me, it was somewhat in the same vein as Jesus turning water into wine... making something out of nothing... or like a lost sheep being found.

To me, it was a very vivid reminder how important are the every-day bits of our lives to our Father. And how He loves showing Himself when we refuse to agree with our flesh and the enemy, when we trust in Him, when we rest in His place of peace.

Thank You, God, for the everyday --yet not so everyday-- miracles in our lives!

To You be all the glory!!

difficult and untried...

"The Christian ideal

has not been tried and found wanting;

it has been found difficult

and left untried."

~GK Chesterton

(What's Wrong With The World, Chapter 5, 1910 )

...and now we wait...

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ~Matthew 27:57-60

...and so we wait...

with sorrow

and with hope...

Finally, brethren, whatever is true,

whatever is honorable,

whatever is right,

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely,

whatever is of good repute,

if there is any excellence and

if anything worthy of praise,

dwell on these things.

~Philippians 4:8

God is good.

All the time.

"snow day" hope...

The past several days I've been reading fellow bloggers' tales of ice and freezing and no electricity in far-off wintry states. Their stories and photos bring back such delightful winter memories of my childhood. Nostalgic feelings and thoughts wash over me, as I remember the hopes of a child with one thought on her mind -- "I want a snow day!!!"

I remember when I was a kid growing up in Michigan, and it would start snowing heavily in the evening with a forecast of more, much more, to come. And I would begin to hope. My parents would watch the weather on tv and would then turn on the radio. I'd listen avidly before going to bed, hoping against all hope I would hear our school listed in the school closings that were already being announced. And I would hope.

I so wanted to hear it before I went to bed, so I could sleep in in the morning. Other schools were closing... but, usually, ours didn't. Undaunted, however, I would go to bed, still hoping...

I would wake up in the morning with great anticipation, look outside at what I was sure would be even more snow, and turn on the radio to listen for the school closings. My school was still not on the long list of closings, but I would start getting ready for school and continue listening to the radio... and I would continue to hope.

Unfortunately for me, our county, for some reason, rarely closed our school. All the other schools around us would be closing, but I guess ours just wanted us to "git are edjucashin." Oh, there actually were the occasional 'snow day' closings--I knew they could happen, and even sometimes did! And so I would always hope!

That hope was special. It was something more than simply wishing. There was excitement. And anticipation. And expectation. And that combination was so much deeper and richer and more powerful than a mere wish. It was an expectant waiting...and my whole heart and being was involved.

Hebrews 11:1 says: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." I know what the author was talking about. After all, I had hoped for snow days! He wasn't talking about the "wishing" kind of hope that we seem to fall into. He was talking about "snow day" hope. And as I find my "hope in Christ," I want it to be that "snow day" hope... full of excitement, and anticipation, and a very deep, very real sense of expectation.

• "...for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." ~Psalm 25:5
• "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD." ~Psalm 31:24
• "We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield." ~Psalm 33:20
• "May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you." ~Psalm 33:22
• "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you." ~Psalm 39:7
• "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." ~Psalm 42:1
• "I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good." ~Psalm 52:9
• "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." ~Psalm 62:5

  Lord, teach us what it is to hope in You with Snow Day Hope.... cause our hearts to yearn with excitement, anticipation, and expectation as we wait on You...

believe...

If we did not have rational souls,

we would not be able to believe.

~Saint Augustine